Fish and Compromises
by Dolphin Click
Summary: Tag to Moebius. At Jack's cabin, the team discusses the ramifications of fish, and Jack and Sam discuss their options.
1. Chapter 1

**Spoilers: **Anything through the end of season 8 plus minor spoilers for _Avalon _and Stargate Atlantis:_ The Siege._

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing to do with Stargate. I just needed to see this scenario in writing.

**Author's Note:** This takes place on their first day at Jack's cabin at the end of _Moebius_.

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After they finished clearing the table from dinner, they moved to the living room to relax. Jack, Sam, and Daniel each had a beer, and Teal'c was drinking cranberry juice. They were strangely silent, each lost in thought, until Daniel spoke up.

"So, is no one else gonna say it?"

"What?" Jack said, looking up at him.

Daniel frowned while he took a few seconds to formulate his reply. "The citrus glaze on the fish that wasn't supposed to exist was delicious," Daniel replied with heavy sarcasm, tilting his head to the left.

"Thank you, Daniel Jackson. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart."

Daniel slowly turned his head to look at Teal'c, who was sitting in the chair to his left, and raised an eyebrow at him. Jack smirked and took a swig of his beer, and Sam tried to stifle a chuckle.

"My point is," Daniel said a little louder, "that according to the tape, that fish--"

"Thirteen pound trout," Jack declared proudly.

"Sir, Teal'c caught it."

"In _my_ pond."

Sam rolled her eyes.

Daniel sighed. "My point is that the fish wasn't supposed to exist at all."

"And what to you propose we do about that, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Honestly, even if we had any idea what we might have changed in Ancient Egypt to cause there to be fish in a pond in Minnesota five thousand years later, it's not like we could go back to try to fix it without running the risk of causing more drastic changes. I can't believe I even let us go in the first place," Sam responded.

"I concur with Colonel Carter."

Daniel shifted forward in his chair, tucking one leg underneath him. "How do we know that's all we changed? Look, I'm not proposing we even consider going back in time. I'm just saying that with the exception of the information mentioned on the tape, we have no way of knowing what's different. I mean, what happened to the other 'us' after we made the tape? We would have had to live out the rest of our lives in Ancient Egypt. Four people who weren't supposed to be there at a critical point in this planet's history could cause a lot of changes whether they wanted to or not. Hell, we would have had to make sure not to form any sort of relationships with anyone but each other."

With the briefest of glances in Sam's direction, Jack muttered half to himself, "Now there's irony for you."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"What?" Jack responded, looking up at Daniel.

After a few moments of silence during which Sam tried to interpret what Jack had said, Daniel said with a look of mild amusement on his face, "Especially Sam."

"What do you mean 'especially me'?"

"It's just that you kind of have a… uh… a black widow effect."

"What!" Sam exclaimed incredulously.

"What is a black widow effect?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel turned to Teal'c to explain while Sam was still reeling from the accusation. "A black widow spider is best known for the fact that the female sometimes eats the male after mating with him. So when a woman's former… um… romantic interests have a tendency to die, people sometimes refer to her as a black widow."

"I am not a black widow!" Sam declared defensively.

Jack tilted his head from side to side as if contemplating, "Well, you have to admit…"

"Who? Give me one example."

Daniel piped up, "Your former fiancé."

"Pete's alive and well, thank you very much."

They had all assumed that she and Pete had broken up when Pete hadn't shown up to Jacob's funeral and when Sam had agreed to come up to the cabin with the team for a week instead of spending the time with her fiancé planning their wedding, but this was the first time she had confirmed it out loud. Even though Jack already knew, he felt a disproportionate amount of joy in hearing her say it. Sam had meant to actually tell them, but so much had been going on, what with dealing with Anubis and with Daniel dying again, and it _was_ a rather awkward subject to bring up. Besides, she figured that at this point it was obvious anyway.

"Actually, I was referring to your first fiancé, Jonas."

"Oh."

"But now that you mention Pete, what happened with that, by the way?"

Sam swallowed and glared at Daniel. "You're changing the subject. Jonas was a narcissist with a god complex, and that was bound to destroy him eventually. That was one of the many reasons I broke up with him. Besides, one dead ex does not make me a black widow."

"You don't have to actually cause the deaths to be a black widow, you know. And he wasn't the only one."

"Who?"

"Narim."

"I wasn't actually involved in a relationship with Narim."

"He used your voice for his house computer. It greeted him every time he came home. Besides, you kissed him."

"How did you kn– ?

"I was there," Daniel interrupted, somewhat triumphantly.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that," Sam replied somewhat sheepishly. "But we don't know for sure that he's dead."

"Oh, there was that ambassador, Joe, from the treaty talks with the Aschen," Jack piped up, suddenly eager to play the somewhat macabre game.

Sam turned and glared at Jack with one thought: _Traitor._

Jack studiously ignored the glare and said, "Well, he did ask you out to dinner, and if I recall correctly, you agreed to go. That he didn't actually make it to the date only proves Daniel's point."

"Indeed."

"I barely even knew the guy," Sam protested. "You can't count that as romantic involvement."

"Fine, then," Daniel said. "Martouf."

Sam felt a wave of sadness wash over her at hearing Martouf's name. While she didn't know if she would ever have actually pursued a romantic relationship with him, Martouf had been the person who had helped her make sense of her experience with Jolinar. And the part of Jolinar that she would carry with her for the rest of her life felt a profound loss with the death of Martouf, and then again with the death of Lantash almost two years later. She couldn't bring herself to deny her connection to Martouf. It would feel like she was betraying his memory. Jack saw the look of sadness come over her face, and reached over from the other side of the couch to briefly squeeze her hand, surprising Sam out of her silence. The gesture wasn't lost on Teal'c or Daniel either. "Fine. But like I said, Pete's still alive and well, and as far as I know, so are all my other ex-boyfriends."

"The black widow spider doesn't actually eat all her mates. That's a misconception. She only eats them occasionally, so I think I've proven my point."

Sam sighed, closed her eyes, and almost imperceptibly shook her head back and forth. She opened her eyes, looked up at the ceiling with a sigh, and asked the room, "Exactly how did we get onto this topic of discussion?"

Jack responded, "We were talking about what changes we might have made when we… they… we – whatever – went back to Ancient Egypt." He paused and then said, "Aside from my fish."

"Is it not futile to ponder a question to which we can never discover the answer?"

"Yeah, I guess," Daniel sighed. "Still, I wonder what we did with the rest of our lives, stuck in the past."

"Well Daniel, I think it's safe to assume it was a lot like Disneyland for you," Jack said. "You got to see Ancient Egypt firsthand. See what they did with the pyramids once Ra left. Everything you ever wanted to know about Ancient Egypt, but were afraid to ask."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm sure you found… stuff to do too," Daniel said tiredly, waving his hand in the general direction of Jack and Sam.

There were a few moments of awkward silence during which Sam felt her face start to heat up. Finally, Jack stood up and grabbed their empty bottles off the coffee table. As he headed towards the kitchen with them, he asked, "Anyone want another beer?"

"I'll take one," Sam replied.

"No," Daniel said with a yawn, "I'm gonna head to bed. It's late."

"Daniel, it's 9:30," Jack retorted.

"Yeah, well I was dead. Give me a chance to adjust to the change in time zone."

Jack turned to Sam, handing her the beer he'd just opened, and asked, "Is it weird that that made sense to me?"

Sam's eyes danced with suppressed laughter "No, sir. Maybe a little disturbing, but no, not weird."

Sam and Jack were distracted long enough to miss the look Daniel gave Teal'c. Teal'c stood up and announced, "I too will retire for the evening."

"You, too?" Jack asked.

"Did you not say that the best time for catching fish is early in the morning?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then I should like to get a good night's rest before then."

After a chorus of some very quick good nights, Daniel and Teal'c were tucked away in one of the bedrooms, leaving Jack and Sam drinking their beers on the couch.

"Did that seem orchestrated to you?" Sam asked.

"A bit," Jack replied in a tone of voice that made it clear that he wasn't unhappy about it, which made Sam smile. After a few moments of silence, Jack asked hesitantly, "So… you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but what did happen with Pete?"

Sam looked into his eyes and saw the hopeful but slightly scared expression he wore and knew that whatever the consequences, the time had come for both of them to lay their cards on the table. "No, I want to." Jack looked slightly relieved, so Sam continued, "Before he died, my dad told me I shouldn't let rules stand in the way of my happiness. I tried to convince him I was happy, but I guess I was trying to convince myself too." She looked up at Jack, and he gave her an encouraging nod, so she continued. "After he died, I realized he was right. I wasn't going to be happy with Pete, and it wasn't fair to either one of us to pretend that I was. So I broke it off. I guess that's what I was trying to work up the courage to say when I came to your house, before…" Sam wasn't quite sure how to finish her sentence, and the silence hung in the air for a moment.

"Kerry dumped me."

Sam's eyebrows shot up under her bangs, "That wasn't really a non sequitur, was it?" Sam said with a chuckle.

Jack smiled back, "No."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"Let's just say she's as perceptive as your dad."

"Oh," Sam replied, and both of them fell silent, not quite sure what to say next. Their movements mirrored each other as each laid an ear against the back of the couch, one foot on the floor. They stared into each other's eyes and sighed helplessly, their knees almost, but not quite, touching.

Finally, with an ironic chuckle, Sam asked, "So, what do we do?"

"I could retire."

"Again?" Sam asked skeptically.

"I know, I know."

"You don't really want to retire now, do you?"

"No, not really."

They fell silent again until Jack offered somewhat reluctantly, "There is one option…"

"What?"

Jack took a deep breath and let it out before saying, "I got another transfer request for you from Area 51."

"Another one? How many have there been?" Sam asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"I think this was the third – no, fourth." Jack paused and then said, "Since I've been running the SGC, anyway. I'm fairly sure Hammond got them pretty regularly too."

Sam was laughing now, "I didn't know I was in such high demand."

Her laughter was contagious. "Oh, yeah. That brain of yours? Very rare commodity." Jack continued, "I usually tell them to shove off, that we need you more in the SGC, and that the doohickeys they can't figure out will just have to wait, but…"

"The replicators are gone, and the Goa'ould aren't much of a threat anymore. And Atlantis has a ZPM now," Sam finished for him.

"Yeah."

"We wouldn't be in the same chain of command anymore…"

"I know."

"And there _are _a lot of things at Area 51 I've been dying to get my hands on for awhile now…"

"It's in Nevada, Sam."

Sam smiled at Jack's use of her name and at the fact that their knees were in fact touching now. "It's not that far, really. Just a quick flight. I hear the Air Force has flights going back and forth all the time. Someone with a little clout could probably secure a seat on a few of them," Sam said a little teasingly.

"Long distance. Hell of a way to start a relationship," Jack sighed with a shake of his head. But he had already begun to trace random patterns on Sam's knee with his fingers. The decision had been made.

"You know, it _would_ be nice if they'd let me take a few weeks to finish up the projects I've got going in my lab after the transfer goes through. After my leave is up, of course."

Jack smiled. "Let's see… we've saved the galaxy twice in the past month. I think we _might_ be able to call in a few favors."

Jack's right hand was now making its way up Sam's thigh. Their heads were only inches from each other. In a matter of seconds, they closed the distance between them, and their lips met softly, unhurriedly. When Sam ran her hand up the back of Jack's neck and into his hair, the kiss deepened, and their tongues entwined. Sam let out an involuntary whimper, which spurred Jack to put his arms around her back and pull her tighter to him. By the time they came up for air, they were out of breath and completely tangled up together. Not willing to break contact, they leaned their foreheads together.

Jack was the first to speak. "So, should I be afraid for my life now?" he asked with a smirk.

It took a couple seconds before Sam's thoughts were coherent enough to recognize the black widow reference from earlier, but once she did, she hit Jack lightly in the chest with the back of her hand and exclaimed, "Jack!" with mock offense.

"Totally worth the risk." And he captured Sam's mouth in another kiss.


	2. The Best Laid Plans

Author's Note: I hadn't intended to write a second chapter, but I had timeline issues to work out in my head, and this is what I came up with. There may or may not be a third chapter. It depends on whether the inkling of an idea in my head turns into something bigger.

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She picked up the phone on the second ring with an absentminded, "Carter."

"You know, Carter, my first instinct at 1930 hours should be to call you at home, not your lab," came Jack's disembodied voice from the phone. "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

"Nope. I was waiting for you," Sam replied.

Jack smiled at her answer. With the exception of the night before, when Jack had to fly to Washington, he and Sam had managed to eat dinner together every night since they'd gotten back from the cabin ten days ago. A few of those nights also included Daniel and Teal'c, including three nights earlier when the four of them had gone out to a farewell dinner for Teal'c, who had left for Dakara the next morning to serve on the new Jaffa council. "What are you in the mood for?" he asked.

"Hmmm…" Sam contemplated, "How about Thai? I'm suddenly craving Pad Thai noodles."

"The place with the insanely good turnip cakes?" That was Sam's fault. She'd introduced him to the restaurant, ordered the turnip cakes, and made him try them. The 'insane' part was because that was how he felt for liking something called 'turnip cakes.' The term 'cake' was supposed to be applied to things like chocolate, seven-layer, even carrot, but certainly not turnip.

"Yeah," she answered, "but let's get takeout. I feel like staying in tonight." Walking through the airport, Jack willed his body not to respond to the implication. That first night at the cabin, they'd decided to take things slow, and they'd made a valiant effort. Really. They'd made it to the third night. Then they wondered what the hell they'd been waiting for. Daniel was just glad the old cabin had thick walls. He was happy for them. Hell, he'd actively rooted for them, but there were certain things he just didn't need or want to know about his two best friends.

"OK. I'll call in the order and pick it up on my way home from the airport. Meet me there in an hour?"

"Yes, sir." While Sam had said it somewhat cheekily, the 'sir' part was necessary. Jack wasn't technically her CO anymore, but he still outranked her, and they needed to maintain their professional relationship in a military setting, now more than ever. Fortunately, their eight years of experience in purposely maintaining that wall between them was helping them out on that front.

The only other person on the planet who knew about their relationship was Daniel, Teal'c being on Dakara. Others suspected, but there was certainly no need to give them proof, because while they weren't technically breaking any rules, they were definitely bending them. The people at Area 51 were ecstatic that Sam was finally being transferred there, but they were somewhat puzzled by the conditions of the transfer. One poor desk sergeant who was tasked with speedily putting together the paperwork for Sam's transfer had to wonder aloud, "If she doesn't want to come here for another four weeks, why doesn't she just transfer in four weeks?" But they _really_ wanted her to head Stargate R&D at Area 51, so they went along with it.

An hour later, Sam walked through Jack's front door, dropped her overnight bag on the floor in the hallway (because spontaneity is great, unless you want to put on clean underwear in the morning), and not seeing him in the immediate vicinity, called out, "Jack?"

"In the kitchen!"

As Sam walked through the dining room to the kitchen, she gaped a little at the table that was beautifully set with a white linen tablecloth, more silverware than they could possibly need while eating Thai food, wine glasses, and candles. While Sam was touched at the romantic gesture, she was more suspicious than anything else because she was quite sure that Jack knew he didn't have to work this hard to get her into bed. She found Jack in the kitchen transferring the food from takeout containers into… serving bowls? The hell? Something was definitely up, but her questions could wait until she welcomed him back from Washington properly.

Sam crossed the space that separated them and stretched up to kiss him, which as a woman of five foot ten, was something she appreciated. It was a bit more than a hello kiss, but to be fair, this was the first time since before they'd gone up to the cabin that they'd gone more than twelve hours without seeing each other. After breaking the kiss, but not moving out of his arms, Sam looked up at Jack, smiled, and asked, "OK, who are you, and what have you done with Jack?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at her and responded, "You go around kissing strangers like that?"

Sam rolled her eyes, and removing one hand from the back of Jack's neck, gestured at the dining room table and the serving bowls. "When I said takeout, I was thinking paper plates and chopsticks, not a candlelit dinner. What's the occasion?"

Cautiously, Jack answered, "We're celebrating my promotion."

"Your…? Oh my god!" Sam exclaimed and hugged Jack. Then she took a step back and looked at him quizzically. "Jaaack, god knows you deserve it, but you've been a brigadier barely a year. This has to be the quickest rise to two-star I've ever seen. Why are they promoting you _now_?"

Grabbing two of the serving bowls, Jack replied, "Come on. I'm hungry. I'll tell you over dinner." Sam grabbed the other bowls and followed him into the dining room.

______________________________________________________________________

_Eleven Hours Earlier:_

_Jack walked into the oval office to find President Hayes and General Hammond waiting to greet him. Reaching out to shake his hand, General Hammond smiled warmly and said, "Nice to see you, Jack."_

_Jack responded sincerely, "You too, sir."_

"_Welcome to the Oval Office, Jack," the president said, taking Jack's hand and shaking it. _

"_Thank you, Mr. President."_

"_Have a seat." And he ushered Jack over to one of the couches, while he and General Hammond sat on the couch opposite him._

"_Jack," Hammond began, "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."_

"_I figured someone would get around to telling me eventually, sir."_

_George smiled and continued, "I've decided that it's a good time for me to finally retire. I'd like to watch my granddaughters grow up, and I can't do that from Washington."_

_President Hayes didn't give Jack time to react to the news, but continued with the rest of the news. "We're promoting you, Jack. I'd like you to be the new Head of Homeworld Security." Jack didn't respond, but his eyes were as wide as saucers, so Henry continued, "You'll oversee operations at the SGC, our off-world bases, the Prometheus, the 304 projects, the Antarctic outpost, the Atlantis expedition, and Area 51."_

_Jack visibly winced when the president said "Area 51," and the other two men noticed. "Something wrong, Jack?" George asked._

_Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was not a topic he had ever intended to discuss with the president of the United States, but it looked like he had no choice. Already knowing the answer, he asked, "I don't suppose we could remove Area 51 from that list?"_

"_Jack?" Hammond questioned._

_With steely resolve, Jack turned to General Hammond and forced himself to say the words, "Carter just transferred to Area 51."_

_Realization dawned on General Hammond's face, and a smile spread across it. "So you two aren't in the same chain of command anymore?"_

"_Yes, sir," Jack answered miserably._

"_How long have you been together?" George asked kindly._

"_A couple of weeks, sir. She's been finishing off projects in her lab before the move."_

_The president turned to General Hammond and asked rhetorically, "So the rumors were true?"_

_Jack tried not to react to the fact that the president of the United States seemed to be on the receiving end of the SGC's gossip. He started to wonder who his source of information was when the president interrupted his thoughts. "Jack, the U.S. military doesn't make a habit out of breaking up existing relationships with promotions, and it's not going to start now. If anyone gives you or Colonel Carter a problem, they can take it up with me, but _I_ need you in Washington."_

_Jack had no desire to move to Washington, no desire to take a job that involved even more paperwork than he already had, no desire to be even further from the stargate, and he definitely had no desire to get involved in the politics he knew came with the job, but the president of the United States had just sanctioned a relationship that had been completely against the rules two weeks ago, a relationship he'd coveted for at least five years, possibly longer. Besides, he was military, and when the Commander in Chief gives you an order, you follow it. It was either that or retirement. And while he had thought he had been ready to retire nine years ago, he knew he wasn't ready now. He needed to see the fruits of his labor, he needed to see what a galaxy no longer enslaved by the Goa'ould looked like, and for that he needed security clearance. So his only response to the president was, "Thank you, sir."_

"_Good," said the president, clearly deciding everything was settled. "Now there's just the matter of your replacement. George?"_

"_We were thinking of Hank Landry. Jack, what do you think?"_

_A smile spread across Jack's face. "I think he's perfect for the job, sir. In fact, I'm wondering why you didn't appoint him a year ago instead of me." Then, quirking an eyebrow, he asked, "Does he know about the stargate?"_

"_Not yet."_

"_Can I tell him?" Jack's eyes were wide, hopeful anticipation written into his smile._

_The president handled that question amiably. "I think that can be arranged. Why don't you take a little side trip before heading back to Colorado Springs? Now, any more questions?"_

"_Just one," Jack said cautiously, "when do you need me to start?"_

_The president deferred to General Hammond with a nod of his head._

"_When does Colonel Carter move to Nevada?"_

"_Three weeks."_

"_I think I can hold the fort here until then."_

"_Thank you, sir."_

_The president stood up, and the other two men stood with him. Shaking General Hammond's hand, he said, "George, we're going to miss you around here."_

"_Thank you, Mr. President."_

_Taking Jack's hand, he said, "Jack, glad to have you on board."_

"_Thank you, Mr. President." As he and General Hammond left the oval office, Jack had the feeling he would be saying that a lot from now on. He wondered what he'd gotten himself into._

_______________________________________________________________

Once Jack finished the story, he looked expectantly at Sam. "Well?"

Sam pondered the ramifications of Jack's promotion for a few moments before saying, "I guess we'll just have to sit through longer flights. Although… we really should think about installing Asgard beaming technology on the International Space Station. The Prometheus or the Daedalus can't be here _every_ time we need to use it."

One corner of Jack's mouth tugged up into a smile, and Jack planted a quick kiss on Sam's lips. He sat back and stared at her in open adoration for a few moments until suddenly, he frowned.

"What?"

"I should _not_ be thinking about this stuff yet."

"_What_?" Sam asked more insistently.

"I just realized what a political nightmare it would be to _actually_ try to install Asgard beams on the International Space Station."

Sam started laughing. "Hey! No giggling about this," Jack admonished, but that only made Sam laugh harder.


End file.
